American Indians push for California bill to preserve sacred sites

For centuries, young American Indians have run a series of trails that stretch from the muddy red waters of the Colorado River to the Arizona-California line.

Running the trail has been at the center of the Quechan Nation's religion, traditions and history. Now 30 young men are running to try to save the paths for the next generation.

The runners are making a 700-mile relay trek through California to focus attention on state legislation that seeks to protect ancient sites like the one they hope to safeguard from becoming a gold mine.

The group wants Gov. Gray Davis to sign a bill that would require local governments to notify a tribe of proposed construction within 20 miles of a reservation and to protect sacred sites from development.

Opponents of the bill said it could grant tribes veto power over both private and public land. The California Chamber of Commerce said the bill threatens to delay or stop public improvement projects, school buildings and new homes.

Davis, who has until month's end to sign or veto the bill, has not publicly taken a position.

"This is not only for politics," said 15-year-old runner Richard "Ticky" Smith, a Quechan tribal member who has sweated through triple-digit temperatures in California's Central Valley this week. "It's for all the elders -- the ones that passed on, the ones who are sick, the ones who can't run or walk or hear or see. It's also for the future."

The run began last Friday in Sacramento, Calif., and was expected to end Saturday at the tribe's Imperial Valley reservation. The proposed mine site -- at Indian Pass, a remote spot near the Arizona-California line -- sits on federal land outside their reservation.

Lillian Sparks, an analyst for the National Congress of American Indians, said no state has enacted legislation similar to the bill before the governor.

"California is really taking initiative to protect Native American sacred places, and we're hoping other states will follow through until we can get protection at the federal level," said Sparks.

Across California, about 300 sites that average a quarter-acre each need protection, according to the Native American Heritage Commission.

Under the legislation, a local government would hire an outside investigator such as an anthropologist to check historical records and determine whether a site has long been considered sacred. The investigator also would look at whether the area has a shrine or other religious artifacts.

The bill stems from Quechan opposition to plans by Glamis Gold Ltd., a Reno, Nev.-based company that wants to build an open pit gold mine on 1,600 acres of BLM land near the tribe's reservation. The Bureau of Land Management parcel includes a site of religious ceremonies that contains ancient pottery shards and petroglyphs.

Charles Jeannes, senior vice president of Glamis, said the proposed state bill could ruin the company's efforts to create an operation on which it already has spent $15 million.

Jeannes said the bill now on Davis' desk would hamper development statewide by only allowing construction of projects on sacred sites that have an overriding environmental, public health or safety reason.

"It's a fairly narrow exception and it gives the native tribe any right to veto any project they deem sacred," he said.

On Friday, the Interior Department revived the gold mine proposal, which the Clinton administration had blocked citing "undue impairment" to Quechan sacred land.

Quechan president Mike Jackson said the issue is about continuing a tradition for his 3,000 tribal members.

"We want to preserve our history just like any other person," he said. "We should enjoy our religious rights like anybody else."